Elder Mower Letter #17

hi everybody!

So this week had its ups and downs. We didn't get to teach any lessons to investigators this week. However, we got to teach 6 RCLA (Recent Convert or Less Active) lessons! We also had a VERY good contacting ratio. Our ratio was 0.6/1.9. The ratio is Future investigators/Invitations to Learn. So basically out of all the people that we invited to learn about the gospel, about 30% of them became future investigators and agreed to learn more. Makes me soooo happy! but unfortunately the appointments fell through but we're still trying. We asked them when would be a good time to come again and one of them said "come on the most holy day. Sunday!" That's a good sign I'm assuming! haha

So here were the lessons this week. First we taught Sister Briggs last Wednesday about tithing and fast offerings. She committed to live it and she is progressing closer to living the Word of Wisdom fully. Shes given up coffee and now its all just getting her off the nicotine gum. SHes cut down SO MUCH on the gum and we are proud of her and the changes that she has made in her life. Later that day, we had dinner with the Trader family. They come to church pretty frequently now but they are just getting back to full activity. Brother Trader actually served his mission in the MMM as well! pretty cool! They are a great family. Last Thursday, we came into contact with a LA member named Sarah Gutierrez and she is WAY SOLID! she knows the church is true and wants to come back soon but she is scared to do it. She was baptized in 1997 i think and was sealed in the temple in 1999. But in 2000 she went through a nasty divorce and took offense to that against the Church. but looking back she realizes that it wasn't the Church's fault. She now has 2 kids and is married to a non member. But she does want to come back to church. Thats huge. We taught the wonderful Rodriguez Family just last Friday about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it is the "Road of Life." They also came to church again so i have a great feeling that they were serious about saying that they will now regularly come to church. Im so happy for them!!! I love that family so much! Last Saturday we found a less active member named Gloria Paulson along with her daughter, Sister Sutten, and she has a VERY hard time with hearing but loves the missionaries. She is a convert in 1972 along with her family. We just shared a spiritual thought but the Spirit was so strong! we talked about How our Heavenly Father usually answers our prayers through other people. Sister Sutten got emotional and actually came to church this last Sunday. The only reason that they are less active is because Gloria cant really hear anything at Sacrament meeting. We are trying to resolve that though so that she can enjoy the blessings of coming to church. We got to teach a gospel principles class during 2nd hour at church to RCLAs and we taught about keeping the Sabbath day holy and the blessings that come from it. It was a great lesson. They really enjoyed it.

Those were our lessons this week but now for this upcoming week: we have 3 lessons set up on Tuesday (All investigators), 2 on Wednesday (All investigators), 2 on Thursday (1 Recent Convert and 1 investigator), and 2 on Friday (all Less Active member lessons) with possibly more on the way. Plus we are really pushing general conference with investigators. With all these lessons and general conference this weekend, this is probably going to be one of the busiest weeks on my mission yet but im very excited to teach these lessons and hear the words of our beloved prophet, President Monson.

I found a video on mormon.org this last week that really touched me and id like to share that with you all. President Hinckley told us a story one time in general conference that his father once told him.

"An older boy and his young companion were walking along a road which led through a field. They saw an old coat and a badly worn pair of men’s shoes by the roadside, and in the distance they saw the owner working in the field. The younger boy suggested that they hide the shoes, conceal themselves, and watch the perplexity on the owner’s face when he returned. The older boy … thought that would not be so good. He said the owner must be a very poor man. So, after talking the matter over, at his suggestion, they concluded to try another experiment. Instead of hiding the shoes, they would put a silver dollar in each one and … see what the owner did when he discovered the money. So they did that. Pretty soon the man returned from the field, put on his coat, slipped one foot into a shoe, felt something hard, took it out and found a silver dollar. Wonder and surprise [shone] upon his face. He looked at the dollar again and again, turned around and could see nobody, then proceeded to put on the other shoe; when to his great surprise he found another dollar. His feelings overcame him. … He knelt down and offered aloud a prayer of thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife being sick and helpless and his children without bread. … He fervently thanked the Lord for this bounty from unknown hands and evoked the blessing of heaven upon those who gave him this needed help. The boys remained [hidden] until he had gone. They had been touched by his prayer and felt something warm within their hearts. As they left to walk down the road, one said to the other, 'Don’t you have a good feeling?'"

That story really touched me because the Lord knew this mans needs and his prayers. But he answered his prayers not by money magically growing from a tree in his yard or something but by a small act of kindness from these boys that had a huge impact on this mas life. It is my prayer that we may doing something kind for someone that is having a hard time. Search for these opportunities. A lot of times in our lives we become so preoccupied with our own lives. We become caught up in the thick of thin things. Let us go out of our way and do something for someone who may have lost a loved one, who is dealing with marital problems or spiritually lost children, dealing with the bitterness of disease or illness, dealing with sorrow, dealing with loneliness, or any kind of suffering. We will feel that warm feeling in our hearts as we help someone who is more weary than ourselves. We ourselves will be made stronger. Do as the Lord did. Help those in need. Fulfill what really matters most in life. I promise each of you that if you that if you do this, you will feel this good feeling in your heart, you will be stripped of pride and bitterness and filled with love and charity, and you will experience the joys of serving those who the Lord would have you to serve. This is my testimony and i share it with you, in the name of our Lord and our Savior, even Jesus Christ. Amen

Love Elder Mower

Surprise Photo #4

Here is a picture of Elder Mower and his new companion Elder Black! It makes my day to get these pictures!!!

Elder Mower Letter #16

Hello from Eagan, MN!

Something funny happened yesterday so ill share that: We knocked on a future investigators door and a girl looks through the window (the window was open so we could hear her). Then she yells to a boy saying: "ITS THE FREAKING JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!" Elder Black and I were laughing our heads off. Eventually she answered the door because she knew that we saw and heard her. We just shared a mormon.org card and invited her to check it out but that's about it. haha

So I'm not gonna lie, this week started off as one of the roughest weeks of my mission.

Mary Hellan dropped us. She was our most solid investigator but she had a huge problem with us not believing in transubstantiation. It didn't make sense because she said herself that she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. So the Book of Mormon shouldn't be a problem with her. She also didn't like that we don't use wine for the blood of Christ. She quoted that even the Book of Mormon said wine. So her question really is: "Was Joseph Smith a total fraud or was he a true prophet inspired from God?" If she believes he was a prophet, then i really don't know how else to help her. I do think that the only reason that she met with the missionaries is because she was more attached to the missionaries that started teaching her than to the gospel. Elder Baker (my last companion) was one of those elders that started teaching her. A week after he left, she dropped us. Its ok though because she said that she will still read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She told us that she will call us if she has any questions. a definite seed was planted.

We BARELY had any lessons this week. Most of our lessons fell through. It was really testing my faith. I felt like an unsuccessful missionary. Elder Black felt the same way.

We knew that we had to over come that obstacle. So for companionship study all this week, we really focused on attaining the attributes of a successful missionary. We re-evaluated our efforts and worked even harder. Then after our hard work came THE GREATEST MIRACLES I've seen on my mission.

We received a referral on Friday. Best referral yet! She flat out said that she wants to become a Mormon!!! that made me soooo happy!!! Her name is Jayme! The only problem is that she wouldn't give us her address because her mom is SUPER ANTI against the church and she doesn't want us to have to deal with that. We know that she lives in Rosemount but we only cover part of Rosemount so we don't quite know if she is in our area but there is a good chance that she is. We haven't contacted her yet but we know that she is SO READY to receive the gospel.

Elder Black and I tried new finding procedures this week. We completely went through our area book and we found 2 former investigators that said that we could come back and teach them!One of them actually told us why she stopped investigating the church (she felt rushed). So we promised her that we would take it slow with her. Now we know her needs and that is HUGE! If you see the missionaries and they are having trouble finding people, then ask them when the last time was that they checked their area book. Elder Hinckley (president Hinckleys son) came to the mission once and left us a promise that if we stop by our former investigators and do 10 x 10 tracting (10 houses left and 10 right from the former investigators house) that we WILL find someone to baptize. Awesome promise right there because it is SO TRUE!

What i am about to share is an experience that completely changed my perspective on families and even changed my mission. Because it is such a touching experience for me, i will go ahead and leave this lesson as my spiritual thought. We were able to teach the Rodriguez Family (LA) just last Friday. The Rodriguez family is sooooo AWESOME! They have 3 kids Felix Jr. (14), Calvin (11), Cassie (8). We taught them a lot about the Restoration to make sure if they know that the Church is true. When we were teaching about the Holy Ghost, we asked them if they had ever felt the Holy Ghost in their lives and invited them to share that experience. Sister Rodriguez shared that it was an amazing feeling and would do ANYTHING to get that feeling back. Brother Rodriguez shared that whenever he was on an airplane that was very shaky, he was afraid but when he would read the Book of Mormon on the plane, the fear would leave him and he wouldn't even notice the plane shaking. Their youngest daughter, Cassie, is 8 and always bugs them about her getting baptized by her dad. So Brother Rodriguez wants to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He wants to baptize Cassie. The family made a SOLID commitment to come to church. THEY CAME!!! But here was the highlight of that lesson: Brother Rodriguez said: "I feel very close to my family, but i still feel that there is an emptiness in my home." He then asked us to bless his home. He basically asked us to dedicate his home. We said we would do it Sunday, which was yesterday. Elder Black dedicated their home and it was a powerful prayer. We talked about the prayer. Brother Rodriguez then shared a wonderful experience that he had. He had a dream not too long ago. Here is his dream: "He and his family were having some struggles and felt that emptiness in their home (the one that i just talked about). He asked his bishop to dedicate their home. He didn't do it because the bishop said that he had the authority. But Brother Rodriguez felt inadequate and unready, so it didn't happen." Brother Rodriguez started crying as he expressed his desire to get the Priesthood to bless the lives of his family. He said that this dream was a wake up call for him because he didn't feel good enough to get the Priesthood. That hurt him because he really knows that he needs it and that his family needs it. He wants the blessings of the Priesthood SO BAD for his family. But he expressed his firm commitment to work towards receiving the Priesthood. After that Sister Rodriguez started crying. Then even I started crying!!! That was the only time so far that i had ever cried in a real lesson on my mission. The Spirit really touched me that day and I truly felt the love within this amazing family. They also said that from now on, they will be attending church regularly and are making it a goal to be sealed in the temple! That touched me MORE THAN ANYTHING in my life. That opened me to to realize how much a father really loves his wife and children. I developed such a great love for this family. It also helped me better understand our Heavenly Father's love for His children. It really is something beautiful. I love this family sooooooo much! This was without a doubt the happiest moment of my mission so far and is one of my biggest mission highlights. The Spirit pretty much made my heart explode!!! (in a great way).

Keep on praying for the missionaries throughout the world! they are doing amazing things in the Lord's behalf. Thank you for all you do and may the Lord always be with you.

Love Elder Mower

Elder Mower Letter #15

Hello!

So school started this week in Eagan and Rosemount so NOBODY is available for us. So it was a LONG week of no success. :[ It was pretty lame but thats ok because winter is coming soon and hopefully people will immediately let us in to help us warm up (plenty of missionary opportunities there)!

So as you all may know, my companion, Elder Baker got transferred to Rochester in the 3rd singles ward there. My new companion is Elder Black. I mentioned that i heard that his snores are loud and sound like Darth Vader. That is correct. The first night he was here, i COULD NOT go to sleep. So i have been sleeping on our couch since Wednesday but that will end today because Elder Black said that he would buy me some earplugs. He has been out for almost a year. He's 20 years old. He is VERY tall (6 feet 6 inches). He LOVES Taco Bell and Mountain Dew. He was in Marching Band in High School. Because last transfer was only 5 weeks, this transfer will last for 7 weeks. It'll be a good 7 weeks.

So like i said, school just started here and nobody was free for us. We called everybody but everything fell through. But we were able to get 2 lessons this week and form a SOLID ward mission plan. Last tuesday was our 2 lessons. First we taught Sister Briggs (LA) about the word of wisdom. We had 2 sisters from Relief Society come and help us as well. She drinks coffee and chews A LOT of nicotine gum. It was a good lesson and she committed to live the WOW. We call every night to see how she is doing with it. She has been saying that it has been going "just alright." A turning point was just yesterday though! At church, we sat next to her and she said that shes officially quit coffee as of yesterday. We were soooo happy to hear that. Now we just need to focus on eliminating the gum. She is sooooo awesome. After that lesson, we taught Mary Hellan Boodrum (I) with another member about the Restoration and we were very aggressive with the Book of Mormon. She did say that she believes (not KNOWS) that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She said that she had no problem changing things to join our religion except for one problem. She believes in the holy sacrifice of the mass (its where one believes that the bread and wine of the sacrament is LITERALLY turned into the flesh and blood of Christ). She strongly believes it. She told us that it is the only thing that is holding her back. We strongly bore testimony that the Book of Mormon can solve this complex problem by a simple answer from the Holy Ghost. We told her that if the BOM is true, then the way that we administer the sacrament is true and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, then he restored the true way to administer the Sacrament. We extended a baptismal invitation but she said that she needed to find our if the BOM is true first. and she agreed to be baptized if she found out that these things were true. We were extremely bold with her but we believe that by being this bold, we basically got out of the "comparing religions" phase. We established our purpose with her, she does keep her commitments, and she loves the church. So now we just need to help her know how she can find out if the BOM is true. You see how important the BOM really is? its not just another book of scripture that we know is true but it is literally what holds the gospel together. Its the determining factor of ALL investigators. It all matters on the BOM. Every question eventually boils down to: "Is the BOM true or is it not?" This all weighs on the BOM. Speaking of the BOM, it is now the central focus on our ward mission plan. Now the ward mission leader, his assistant, and Elder Black and I go to the auxiliaries to commit a few of them each week to give out a BOM and report back to us. The assistant ward mission leader also found a 23 questions of the BOM compilation (its alot like the questions of the soul). It gives a chapter or even just a scripture to read under that question. Elder Black and I went to Relief Society and 2 sisters took a BOM as well as the 23 questions paper. We pray that this new effort will improve our finding results.

So here is my spiritual thought for the week. Before i say this, i apologize for how long it is but it is such a powerful testimony of the BOM. It is Elder Hollands testimony of the Book of Mormon in his talk titled "Safety For The Soul." He says: "May I refer to a modern “last days” testimony? When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum started for Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent martyrdom, Hyrum read these words to comfort the heart of his brother: 'Thou hast been faithful; wherefore … thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.' 'And now I, Moroni, bid farewell … until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ.” A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the page from which he had read, marking it as part of the everlasting testimony for which these two brothers were about to die. I hold in my hand that book, the very copy from which Hyrum read, the same corner of the page turned down, still visible. Later, when actually incarcerated in the jail, Joseph the Prophet turned to the guards who held him captive and bore a powerful testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Shortly thereafter pistol and ball would take the lives of these two testators. As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest—and last—hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth? Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died...None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, 'No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.'" A video of his testimony is also on mormon.org. I know that the BOM is true and that it is the concrete of our faith in Christ. It is the most reliable written source that gives me simple and powerful answers to questions that may be difficult to answer. If you haven't received that testimony of the Book of Mormon, then I encourage you, like Moroni did, to get on your knees after reading it and plead with your Heavenly Father to know if it is true or not. If you do so with a humble heart and are willing to use this witness to defend this book, then i PROMISE that you will receive the unshakable knowledge that this book is of God and that this is His kingdom established on earth, preceding the Second Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Thank you for all you do and I know that this is the only true gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love Elder Mower


--
Heather

Elder Mower Letter #14

Hi everyone!

So transfer calls were just yesterday and after 9 months of being in Eagan, Elder Baker will be transferred to a singles ward in the Rochester zone. He was such an amazing companion who has taught me sooo many valuable lessons that i can apply both on my mission and for everything that i do for the rest of my life. He will be missed alot! my new companion will be Elder black. I only know a few things about him so far. I know that he is VERY tall (about 6'5), he snores sound like Darth Vader (i may need some earplugs. haha), and he is a good missionary. He is just reaching his year mark. I am excited to take over the Eagan area and learn more about leadership.

So here is the update of missionary work in Eagan: unfortunately none of our referrals have contacted us yet. We will keep on trying and I'll let you all know when we do. Our ward missionary efforts are thankfully improving. Although we only had 2 lessons this week, all of them were one with a member present. That makes me very happy! Elder Baker and I were working so hard to get the ward members excited about missionary work. Things with the ward mission leader are looking good because now we have a solid plan to update him with all of our missionary efforts. I couldn't be happier with the ward. There is always room for improvement though. We still need more missionaries. So wherever you are, ALWAYS look for those opportunities to preach the gospel to friends, family, co workers, etc. You may need to say something that they need to hear. I saw that in both of our lessons. We briefly taught Victor last Wednesday with a member. Like I said before he is unemployed and has been for 2 months. He is really struggling. He applied for a job and the interviews went very smooth and he thinks he did well. Instead, the employers said quite the opposite and said they are pursuing someone else. He was devastated. We showed him this video titled Hope Ya Know, We've Had a Hard Time (it is on http://mormon.org/videos/). The member now wants to play some NFL Madden with him and also help him find a job. Its a miracle! This member HAD to be there. It was inspired for him to be there. Last friday, we taught Monika and Ravi. Before one instance, they were very receptive and we actually brought 2 converts from Hinduism to help us out. Monika and Ravi has 2 kids. They are a Hindu family with beliefs that are VERY parallel to Christianity and with even our own faith. Unfortunately, they asked us the Churches standpoint on eating animals and that was tough to answer. Elder Baker responded: "well that's a very good question. I don't really know that Churches standpoint on this but I personally enjoy eating meat." Then Monika totally lost it and got emotional in defending animals. I think it is safe to say that she was VERY offended. Thankfully we had these 2 members with us because they understood her and they calmed her down. But we can meet with them again. We did commit them to come to church in a few weeks as they are busy for a while. They said that they would come. We found out last Thursday that Sister Briggs (LA) has word of wisdom issues. So we made an addiction recovery plan and set a temple date with her to go to the temple. But it needs to be approved by the bishop since she is a member. But we call her every night to see how she is doing now. She is making LOTS of progress. We are so proud of her and the long way she has come.

Here is my spiritual thought of the week. Just last Saturday we were tracting in the middle of nowhere and we came to this lady's house. She suffered from a stroke so she was barely able to speak to us clearly. I had no idea what she was saying at first. But I prayed for understanding of what she was saying to me. Next thing I knew, I was able to get a general idea of almost every sentence that she was saying. In 1 Corinthians 14:1-4, it reads: " Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church." Just because I am an English speaking missionary, I KNOW that i am still entitled to receive the gift of tongues whenever I need it to prophesy of Jesus Christ. I know that as we strive to testify of the truthfulness of the gospel, we can be entitled to all spiritual gifts of the Spirit to assist in the building of God's kingdom here on earth. Thank you so much for all you do! The church is ALWAYS true!

Love Elder Mower

No letter but more Surprise Pictures!

So, I didn't get a letter today (Labor Day), but I figured since the library was closed. I did however get another surprise text from a Sister in Eagan Minnesota. I just love her dearly, and I have never met her. She has brightened my day so much, and taken pictures of my boy here and there and sent them to me. I am so grateful for her, and I'm guessing it is good practice for her since she has a few to send off on missions someday!!! These are pictures of a contest at the ward picnic in Eagan. They hammer a nail into the log, and I hear it gets pretty competitive. She tells me they do a lot of rounds and all the men participate. She assured me he will email tomorrow when the Library opens! Thanks again to my friend in Minnesota!

Elder Baker and Elder Mower with Brother Winspear from the Eagan Ward.

Elder Mower Letter #13

Hello everybody!!! Not too much has happened this week unfortunately but I will do my best to make the most of it in this letter. We have received LOTS of referrals. The most solid one is Jamie Hansen. She is friends with a member in Northview, MN. We haven't been able to get a hold of her yet but the members that she knows are working VERY hard to get her with us. She is practically homeless but said that she is looking for a church. She also said that she is more than willing to meet with us! :D So once we meet with her, I think we can get her committed to baptism. The hardest part is just getting in contact with her. We'll see. We are trying to also come into contact with a man named Rob. He moved from Farmington, MN and the Elders there referred him to us. He also requested a Book of Mormon and for a missionary visit but when we stopped by his address, it was actually his workplace. It was a tux store. So we walk in and ask for Rob but he wasn't there. We told the co-worker who we were and he said Rob got his hands on a Book of Mormon! So now we are hoping to get in touch with him soon so we can start teaching. We also received another referral from the zone leaders in Rochester, MN. His name is Andrew. We don't know too much information about him but i will be sure to let you all know!

This week we gave 2 blessings. We gave a few more last week as well. The Spirit is always so strong during blessings because it is God's power. With faith, you can do anything with the Priesthood within the bounds of the Lord. I had the opportunity to give one of the blessings. I had never given a blessing before so it was so neat but also it was such a testimony builder of how real the Priesthood power really is. Such an amazing experience.

We picked up on a new investigator this week! His name is Don. He didn't seem too interested until we mentioned that the family can be together after death and forever. He is divorced and has a 2 year old son, Kaden. He has served some jail time and we actually found him drinking one time. But he loves his son SO much and wants to be with him forever. We gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and committed him to read and pray about it. I can really see him being baptized and sealed to Kaden. I pray and hope that this miracle will happen in their lives so that they can come to their heavenly home.

Here is my spiritual thought of the week. Overall this was a very rough week. Motivation in our district was very low and there wasn't a whole lot of faith. Elder Baker and I were kind of slacking off with our prayers this week. So we decided that it would be best to take an hour out of our two hours of companionship study to have an "Enos prayer experience". We prayed for an hour straight. I have never said such a heart-felt prayer in my life. The Spirit was INTENSE. As I was pondering the things I prayed about, these are the words that I heard: "Remember this love." At first I thought: "wow. that's a little bit broad and not clear." but I thought about it for a while and I finally got it! I truly felt the love of my Savior as I prayed because feelings in that prayer were indescribable and powerful. As I have felt the Saviors love, I need to feel the same way towards those Elder Baker and I teach. I love them but do I strive to love them like Christ loves them? That lead me to make it a priority to love them even more than i do and to "remember this love" as I teach them. I encourage each of you to pray sincerely for the Saviors love to be upon you and then to "remember this love" not to keep to yourselves but to share it with others, just as the Lord would. I testify that as we bear witness of our loving Heavenly Father to the world, no matter how crazy this world is and no matter how much hope seems lost, that they will ""remember this love" and they can find peace in their lives through our Best Friend, Jesus Christ.

Love Elder Mower

Elder Mower Letter #12

Hola from Eagan!

It was yet another crazy but miracle filled week here in Eagan! I had my first zone conference just last Wednesday in Oakdale. President Clements was there. He gave us A LOT of insight as always! The highlight of zone conference was when we got to walk out to the St. Paul temple (it was in the same parking lot as the church building). He told us to imagine our investigators going into the temple to be sealed for all time and eternity and then to imagine the pure joy when they come out. It was pretty powerful and emotional. Me and all the missionaries bore their testimonies after that. It was soooo spiritual. I like one thing that President Clements said: "Mission determines mortality, mortality determines eternity, therefore, mission determines eternity." That's why its sooo important for all of us to be missionaries throughout our lives. I promise that there is no greater happiness that comes from sharing gospel with all the world.

Elder Baker and I also had the opportunity to go to the Presidents fireside just last night with Sister Briggs, a recently reactivated member. This is held every 3rd Sunday of the month and you can come if someone that you are working with is able to come (we didn't have anyone to bring last month). We heard some POWERFUL testimonies of people who were just baptized. There was this one man named John who strengthened my testimony. He has LOTS of tattoos everywhere on his body and has gauges. He has had such a hard past but made a BIG change. He was heavily involved in drugs and alcohol and he ended up in prison eventually. Him and his friend (now wife) wanted to get married and start a family after he came out of prison and went through rehab. He also decided that it would be best if the family had spiritual guidance in their lives. So they went to a Baptist church i think. He liked it a lot but he felt like something was still missing. THE missionaries ended up coming over and they showed him the Restoration DVD. He expressed that he felt an overwhelming yet peaceful feeling and he knew that it was the Spirit. He knew that this was what was missing. He wanted to be baptized after that and receive the fullness of the gospel. That strengthened my testimony because it just shows that even the foulest of all sinners CAN CHANGE! I know it because I have seen it through this mans testimony!

We have had a very successful week considering our success since I came in the mission field. We picked up on 3 referrals, received a new investigator, and invited 3 people to baptism on our first initial contact with them. Our new investigator is Victor, the man who i said last week is more worried about the chaos in the world than coming closer to Jesus Christ. We visited with his brother before and after a while of investigating, his brother asked us not to come by anymore. But then a month ago, we received a prompting to go back there and we met Victor who is now an investigator! Victor just got laid off about 2 months ago and he is really struggling but he is in his humility phase and really trying to have faith and be patient with God. We gave him a blessing of comfort and he really appreciated it. The Spirit was so strong there. I knew that the priesthood is real and that the Savior perhaps has done the same thing 2000 years ago that Elder Baker and I did. We received a referral from the sister missionaries in Northville I believe. Her name is Jamie Hansen and we have heard that she is homeless. The members in Northville and working with us to try and start teaching her. We are pretty sure that if the members are working this hard for her, then she must be a legitimate referral. We also received 2 referrals from the Burnsville Elders where one of my VERY good friends from BYUI is serving (Elder Sande). One is Diane and we contacted her a few nights ago but gave us an excuse that she was too busy to meet with us at all. she said that she would keep our number. At least a seed is planted right? the next one is a very solid referral (according to the Burnsville Elders) and his name is Maleike. We haven't contacted him yet but we are still trying. Ill get back to you all on that. For contacting we invited 3 people to baptism. 2 said no but one did say YES! the bad news is that she gave us a wrong phone number though. We were so sad but its ok. The missionaries will come across her sometime down the road. We were definitely A LOT more bold this week and we are being more successful as missionaries because of that. We taught Mary Hellan this week with a member named Brother Stettler. He is VERY missionary minded and LOVES to preach the gospel. The problem with Mary Hellan is that she doesn't understand fully why we are there. She thinks that we are there to compare our faith with Catholicism but she feels something different when we come over like we are her "angels." Brother Stettler definitely helped us out in knowing how to be bold with her. She likes to dominate the conversation and as you all know, I am not the most outspoken person so it is a challenge! but aside of the spiritual things I am learning, I am learning sooooo many social skills and how to talk to people on my mission. Its really good for you in EVERY aspect of your life.

My spiritual thought for the week is in Luke 18:18-25 (sorry it is so long) which says: "And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not bkill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." President Clements also referred to this story at zone conference telling us that each of us has something that we lack like this rich man. But let us be willing to find that which we lack and to make it better. We all have weaknesses. I have weaknesses every day on my mission. They may not be big all the time but they are there for sure. We all have them. I pondered President Clements remarks and i decided as a result to make a sacrifice list to give up all those things that i lack. I encourage you all to do the same. I have received divine strength as a make small but meaningful sacrifices for the Lord to better lose myself in his work. I have found that a lot of times i would miss my hobbies at home while i am on my mission. I have been able to focus more on the work as i made this sacrifice list. Remember this: "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Luke 12:34)." As we sacrifice all things we have for the gospel, our hearts will be dedicated to the Lord and we will never be more happy. I thank you all for all the love and support given to me and may the Lord bless you as you strive to diligently dedicate all that you have to glorify the name of Jesus Christ!!!

Love Elder Mower

Another Surprise Picture

I feel so blessed to have the Manzella family taking care of my boy! I got another surprise picture of Elder Mower after he had dinner with their family! All I can think is that poor mom who has to send off four boys on missions!

Pictures!!!

Elder Mower sent us some more pictures. Again, I have no idea what they are pictures of, but oh well! We just love getting them!

 

 

 

 

Elder Mower Letter #11

Hello to Cali from the MMM!!!

It has been an awesome week!!! VERY stressful i must say. Because my companion is our district leader, we go on companionship exchanges at least once per week. So while he is doing district leader business, i have to do all the planning for like half of the days and sometimes i have to take over the area. Because we do more driving for these things, that means less driving and more biking! lol. but thank goodness that the humidity is dying down! That is a tender mercy from the Lord. haha Pretty overwhelming as a new missionary. But it was a humbling experience and i didn't do as bad as i thought that i would because i relied on the Lord for help. So this whole district leader deal is keeping both me and Elder Baker on our toes but we are hanging in there!!! he was pretty humbled and honored to hear that he would be a district leader.

So here is the scoop of what has happened in Eagan. We stopped by Victor last Monday. He is a potential investigator who has been struggling with finding a job. I cant remember what he does for a living. Anyways, We went over there and he has a desire to have faith and patience in the Lord, but he is more concerned about the craziness that is happening in the world. Like we would be ready to teach him and then he would go on and on about the riots in London, the status of the economy, and what not...We are praying that he will see that these things don't matter in an eternal sense because "if it isn't ok, then its not the end yet." There is a video that we committed him to watch on Mormon.org. it is a video that he relates to. It is titled "Hope Ya Know, We Had A Hard Time." It is based off of one of Elder Cooks talks. It is about a man who gets laid off and is really struggling because he doesn't know how he will support his wife and kids. As he was pulling into his driveway, he notices an old man, who is his next door neighbor, that is struggling with taking his trash can to his garage. This man has had health problems. So then the younger one goes and helps out the elderly man and they both just look happy after that. Service can really heal us of sorrow. The medicine for our sorrows is helping out our fellow neighbors who are burdened perhaps more than we are. Its an amazing video and i encourage all to watch it. So back to the work: Me and Elder Baker tried something new for planning on where to proselyte. Its called inspired contacting. So we would pick a general area to tract and write 7 streets w/ crossroads where we feel inspired to go. Then we would compare our results. Everytime we did, we had at least one of the same streets. It was so cool to see that we wernt choosing our own preferences but choosing what the Spirit was telling us. The power of the Holy Ghost is SO REAL! Sister Hampton is a less active member. We almost got her to church last Sunday but the members that were supposed to call and give her a ride never called her. Elder Baker and I were very disappointed. Less active members deserve special attention to both full-time missionaries and member missionaries. Members are VITAL to missionary work. Thats something that worries me about the ward here, that members arent all that excited about missionary work. Support the missionaries wherever you are and help them out because they really need it. The missionaries cant do this great work of God alone!!!! Take advantage of every missionary opportunity as members! We got a new investigator on Friday! her name is Bridget! she isn't the most solid investigator because she isn't willing to change her religion but she has A LOT of faith in Jesus Christ and is willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We just need to help her receive that witness from the Holy Ghost and to find the desire to act upon this witness. We are praying for her. On Saturday, we went on a blitz with the elders in Cottage Grove (WE traveled to cottage grove). The point of blitzes is to help double the effort in an area. So 1 hour of proselyting would really be 2 for 2 companionship's in an area. We got them a pretty solid potential investigator. Her name was Lindsay. It wasn't all that easy to talk to her because she was appealing to the eye. LOL. Elder Baker did most of the talking and I just helped out but she was VERY willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. the Cottage Grove missionaries were VERY grateful. Other than these things we have had a few potentials drop us while we picked up on a few more so ill be sure to give you all the report on that next week.

So here is my spiritual thought for the week: I was feeling like i wasn't quite as in-tune with the Spirit this week when i taught. So i thought about it and why that was. I prayed and nothing came. So then i came across an answer to my prayers from a quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks that says: "Each of us is influenced strongly by our own desires and preferences. We may even mistake these influences as the ratification or prompting of the Holy Ghost. It is therefore significant when we feel prompted to do something contrary to our personal preference. That is good evidence of authenticity. Conversely, a feeling that seems to confirm a person in some action he or she strongly desires should be received with caution and subjected to more than one test of validity. In that circumstance a person could well ask himself, 'Am I humbly submitting myself to the will of my Heavenly Father and asking for his guidance, or am I proudly submitting my will to my Heavenly Father and asking for his approval?' Humility is more likely to receive inspiration; pride is more likely to be deceived and fall." I pondered that question and thought back to the perfect example of humility from the Savior's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said Father if it be possible, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not as i will, but as thou wilt. The Savior didn't ask for his will to be granted, he willingly submitted his will to His Father's will. I know that if we strive to be more humble in our lives, we will experience the joy of receiving inspiration from our Father in Heaven. I know that if we strive for humility, we will find more joy in being obedient to the Lord. I know that if we strive for humility, we will feel the peace of everlasting forgiveness through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that if we strive for humility, we will feel more joy in becoming more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ everyday of our lives.

Thank you for all of your support and remember to be thou humble.

Much love,

Elder Mower

Surprise Picture!!!

A sister from our ward here in Castaic has a best friend in Eagan, Minnesota. She contacted her and asked her if Elder Mower was in her ward. To our surprise, he was, and in fact she had taken a picture of him and Elder Baker at the baptism of Dylan. This was Elder Mower's first baptism. What a great surprise it was to have this surprise picture sent to me! He looks so happy, doesn't he?

Elder Mower Letter #10

Hey everybody!!!

It is a beautiful day in Eagan! Everyday is a great day to talk about Jesus Christ!!!

How about a little bit of humor: Just as I was typing this email, this Mong man comes to me and Elder Baker and he thought we were the men in black! Pretty cool right???

Also, Elder Baker told me something that President Howell (our last mission president) told him and another group of Elders: "Think about it: you walk around in a white shirt and tie talking about Jesus all day every day! Elders, your NOT COOL!" So I hate to announce that I am officially not cool anymore! Sorry to disappoint all of you! haha

This week was nothing but MIRACLES!!!! I'd like to start off with probably the coolest miracle on my mission that happened yesterday! So about a few weeks ago, we got a potential investigator in rosemount and we never got his name, just his address. I felt so bad about it. So that night I prayed and prayed and prayed to know what his name was. the name of Chris popped in my head. I didn't know what that meant though. So yesterday came and we knocked on his door. He wasn't home. So then we start talking to this other man across the street from this house. His name was (you guessed it) Chris. He became a potential investigator and was very willing to let us come back and teach a message to him. That is why the name Chris came to my mind. Its amazing how revelation can also work miracles of faith. I was very surprised at first but it was honestly so amazing. I'm praying that me and my companion will be able to teach this man.

I wasn't the only one to receive revelation though. Elder Baker had another miracle. We were biking around Rosemount last Saturday and we came across this random street. Elder Baker got a strong prompting to go there. So we knocked on the doors there and we found a less active woman whom we have no records in Eagan ward. On top of that, she was going through a nasty divorce and needed comfort. It was her mom who answered at the door because she was at the hospital. Her mom was also LDS and does not want to come back but she knows that the missionaries of the Church are good people so she told us to come back for her daughter. We found a lost sheep. That was so neat to see the Spirit working through us to bring miracles to pass in other peoples lives.

There wasn't one day where we haven't had a miracle. Our Potential Investigators have gone off the charts, we have had A LOT of quality gospel discussions, We've given out MANY Books of Mormon, and people are willing to hear our message. Great things are happening in Minnesota, let me tell ya!

So Dylan was baptized about a week ago. Now he wants to get the priesthood and baptize his 7 year old brother next year. We are so excited for him. He loves church and he will, without a doubt, be an AWESOME missionary. We extended the Nelsons kids to be baptized. There are 3 of them. So if we can set a date with them in August, then we will have 3 baptisms this month! We taught Sister Briggs the Plan of Salvation last Wednesday and she liked it. She did ask some interesting questions though. Never an easy thing for a missionary to answer these things. Actually that is it for the people we have taught this week. This was more of a finding week than a teaching week. We have proselyted 25 hours this week. That is a lot and we are happy with the results.

We are trying to get the members more involved in missionary work so if any one has ideas please let us know! Gracias! :]

So here is the spiritual thought of the week. In Doctrine and Covenants 84:106, it reads: "And if any man among you be strong in the Spirit, let him take with him him that is weak, that he may be edified in all meekness, that he may become strong also." Brethren and sisters, our seeds of faith have been planted, grown into mighty trees, and some of us have already brought forth fruit. let us be unselfish in sharing that fruit of eternal life. As you invite people to partake of the fruits of eternal life, encourage them to plant their seeds of faith and help them to become strong like unto yourself. Reach out to those whose trees are weakening. Make them strong. Reach out to them as the Savior would. Bear their burdens. Establish hope in their lives. I testify that as we do this, our Heavenly Father will bless us with soooo much happiness in our lives knowing that the Lord brought a miracle to pass through us. Thank you for all that you do, always choose the right, and remember the Savior in all that you do.

Love Elder Mower

Elder Mower Letter #9

Hello everybody!

A great week has gone by here in Eagan! Today we had transfer calls! I cant believe i am done with my first transfer already (There are 17 transfers for English missionaries here). Time flies fast in the field. It really does. So President Clements called us and apparently my companion, Elder Baker is now our district leader! but we are still together! This week has been so awesome!!! President Clements came out with a new mission goal: To invite 1000 people TO BE BAPTIZED. I'm not gonna lie I'm still very scared about this goal because that is a pretty bold thing to do. He even counseled us to ask people out on the streets. That's pretty gutsy. My companion who has been out for a year, is also very scared about this challenge. We haven't invited anyone yet but we are making it a priority to invite many to baptism in Eagan this upcoming week. This week will be called BOLD WEEK. We are very loving with those people we come in contact with but we aren't as bold as we should be. We'll see how bold week goes!

So here is the missionary work in Eagan this past week: I had my first baptism last Saturday!!! Dylan Gunter, 17 years old, entered the waters of baptism 2 days ago and received the Holy Ghost yesterday during Sacrament meeting. Of all the baptisms I have been to, the Spirit was very different in a very good way. It was stronger as I came to the knowledge that Heavenly Father worked a miracle in Dylan's life through Elder Baker and I. He was so happy after he was baptized. He said that he felt light. It was amazing. We know that he will be a great missionary someday. We had an AWESOME miracle yesterday! We went to a members house to have dinner. The mom hadn't even started dinner yet because she was out visiting teaching. Well, unfortunately we ended up staying MUCH longer than we should have. Then we go to visit some of our potential investigators. We went to Paul and Barbs house. They answered the door and said that we can come in and teach them a lesson. The amazing part is that they said that they just got home. The reason that we stayed at the members house longer was because the Lord made it possible for us to meet with this couple to teach them. The Lord really is causing miracles to happen. Anyways they are a Catholic couple. We taught them about the Restoration, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and eternal families. Barb said that her daughter believes that marriage is only in this life. She really wants to believe that she can be together with her husband and children forever. She said that It doesn't make sense that Heavenly Father would give us families to grow close to them and then just rip them away from us. Heavenly Father wouldn't do that. So we have a great feeling the the concept of eternal families is what will really draw them to the gospel. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to know if it is true. They are very busy for the next few months but next time we meet with them, we will extend a baptismal invitation to them. We know that great things are in store for Paul and Barb. We taught Sister Briggs just last Wednesday and another BIG miracle happened! She was having trouble knowing that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. We were working with her since the beginning of the transfer and just this last time we met with her, she finally told us that she KNOWS that the church is true. If the church is true, then the one who restored it today (Joseph Smith) is truly called of God and that the Book of Mormon is true, it being the keystone of our religion. That was so wonderful to hear her say that. She couldn't be doing any better. Now she is trying to get her husband to hear a message from us. He read a little bit from the Book of Mormon so far. I'll keep you all updated on what happens. Not much has happened because it has been a hard week but we have had miracles happening in Eagan! We couldn't be happier!

Here is the spiritual thought of the week: Doctrine and Covenants 103:36: "All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith." I also read in preach my gospel this morning that faith is a principle of power. With unshakable faith, we can do all things and perform many miracles, just like Jesus Christ. Faith precedes miracles. I know that miracles will continue to happen in this mission and throughout the work as we, the defenders of the faith, will continue to be faithful, obedient, prayerful, and bold but loving. The church is SO true. I'll talk to you all later!

Love
Elder Mower

Elder Mower Letter #8

Hello all!!!

Its a beautiful day in Eagan! Just wait till winter time!!! haha

Here is a hilarious quote i got from my zone leader: "Service is like peeing your pants. Everyone can see that you did it but only you can feel the warmth!"

hahahahaha! that one made me laugh my head off!!!! He told us that when we were helping someone move.

So it has been such an amazing week! First off President Clements challenged us to invite EVERYBODY to baptism (even if its right when we meet them out in town). We want to invite 1000 people to baptism this week. That means being EXTRA BOLD. When I first heard this, I was thinking: This is going to scare off the people! But now as I think deeper, I think the Lord is telling me as well as the other missionaries that we NEED to be more bold in our teaching and in finding. Jeffery R Holland talked about this. Ill paraphrase but he basically said that this is not something to be taken lightly. This is eternal life that we are talking about. We must be bold and let them know how important this message is. It was a powerful statement. I have made it a goal to be more bold in my teaching AND finding.

This week it got REALLLYYYY hot! In the heat index, It got up to around 120!!! That's including the humidity. I learned that there is no end to the sweating. hahaha But I'm still keeping my color so that's a plus! but i do have what they call the missionary tan: so i have a really bad tan on my collar. Half of my neck is tan and half is pure white. haha I am also getting a watch tan. lol. So its pretty hot! Thankfully not too many mosquitoes. Give it until September my companion told me.

The work is going AMAZING!!! We got the approval from President Clements to baptize Dylan this Saturday!!! we are sooooo excited for him!!! We completed the baptismal interview and we have the program all set up. It's a done deal! It's a miracle! We have been trying to meet with the Rodriguez Family, a part member family, for a while now and we finally got a hold of them. The father is less active and is a priest we think. The mother is also a member. They have 3 kids: Felix (14), Kalvin (11), and Cassie (8). They are about to have another baby soon! Here is a miracle that happened before we met with them: when we met with them, they said that their youngest daughter Cassie just asked them if she could be baptized. They want her to do it. In the meantime, they also have a goal to be sealed in the temple. We were so happy for them to come back to the light. It will be a little bit difficult but we are praying for them. We want Brother Rodriguez to baptize Cassie but he doesn't think he can in due time. He feels guilty. We are working with him and will do our best to prepare him for that day to baptize his daughter. We taught Sister Briggs again last Wednesday. Again she has been a less active member for 40 years. She has been coming to church every Sunday since I came into Eagan. She still doesn't have a testimony of Joseph Smith even after fasting. Right then, the gift of discernment came to me and Elder Baker. I felt impressed to ask: "Did you faithfully ponder about those things that you have prayed about?" She replied no. I had no idea what she needed but at that very moment, I knew that the Spirit really knew her needs. To preach with the Spirit means to preach with understanding. The Spirit was so strong at that meeting and her faith was strengthened as well as mine as I bore testimony of the Savior almost in tears. It was amazing. We taught Monika and Ravi last Friday. They are Indian parents of a 4 and 2 year old. They are Hindu. We were going to have a former Hindu who was converted to the gospel come to teach with us. Her name is Priea. She couldn't come. We really needed her there because she is the bridge between Hinduism and Mormonism. We did our best to help them feel the Spirit but they have no desire to change their faith. So I feel that we shouldn't go back until we can get Priea there to bear testimony of her conversion from Hinduism. Other than these people, we have received a lot of referrals this week! When we fasted last friday, we fasted for a new investigator. We are praying that these new referrals will be interested and receptive to our message and to the Spirit.

Here is my spiritual thought of the week: President Ezra Taft Benson once said: "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power." I have seen the blessings that come from being exactly obedient on my mission because God blesses us with the power to resist temptation, to be valiant, and to constantly progress and to constantly strive to become more like the Savior. I testify that if we make obedience a priority in our lives that we will be so happy, that we will enjoy the blessings that come from following the Lords counsel, and that we will find peace in this dark world. Keep choosing the right that the Lord will be with you 24/7. Thank you and may the Lord continue to bless you all!

Love,

Elder Mower

Elder Mower Letter #7

Hello all!

Another great week in Eagan!!! The work is moving along great, I am learning ALOT in personal and companion study, and the first month in the mission field have been a blast! So me and my companion, Elder Baker, started something for our studies called "the ten days of truth". It is when you read the whole Book of Mormon in ten days! Within 3 days we are almost in the Book of Alma. IT IS INTENSE!!! but its a big testimony builder. It strengthens your testimony of the Book of Mormon soooo much. However, we put it on hold for a while because it was distracting us from learning the missionary lessons. To teach with the Spirit means to "teach with understanding", as said by Elder Holland. With that understanding we need to constantly be studying the missionary lessons because that is how we understand them. I have discovered that when you have not studied that day, no matter how well you know the gospel principle, you CANNOT teach with the Spirit if you don't prepare by faithful study. I thought I had the lessons learned pretty well. So I started the ten days of truth. Not long after, I saw myself completely blank as I was attempting to teach a lesson. So Elder Baker had to bail me out quite a bit. But its a valuable lesson that i learned. you can NEVER learn enough regardless of how well you know it.

So here is the scoop on the work in Eagan and Rosemount: We finally met with Dylan. I extended the invitation to be baptized on July 30th. He accepted but was still hesitant due to probation. So I talked with President Clements about this and we came to the conclusion that because his cause of probation was only a misdemeanor, he can still go about a normal baptismal interview and be baptized on July 30th. We completed the interview and He is all set!!! We are sooooooo excited for him! We met with the Nelson family once but we never got around to a lesson. Ray Nelson (the father) is less active who really wants to come back to church. Unfortunately, because they don't want to deal with taxes, Ray does not want to get married to his girlfriend, Trudy, quite yet. But their kids are able to be baptized. So we are extending the baptismal invitation this week!!! We met with our investigator, Mary Helan last Tuesday and she LOVES the Church. She is a Roman Catholic yet she believes a lot of things that we do. We want to take her to see the St. Paul temple soon! We are working with her to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to know of its truth. We had a new less active member recently this week move into the area. Her name is Rosina O'Conner. We met with her and she has been through ALOT of things. since 1993, she was married to a drug dealer who was abusive to her. She was baptized in 1993 as well. She went on and on to tell of her stories and I cant remember them all but she said that she knew that the Lord was always there helping her press on. After 18 years of marriage, she couldn't handle the pain anymore and she left her husband and is now filing for a divorce. She now wants to come back to church! She ended up coming!!! It was a miracle! The Atonement really does work through people's lives! I know it through hearing about the experiences of Rosina. We had companion exchanges with the zone leaders on Wednesday so that we could do Dylan's baptismal interview. I was with Elder Bowen and we taught Sister Briggs about eternal marriages, temples, the plan of salvation, and about fasting. The fasting portion of the lesson was powerful. We had a special fast for her to receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. She also committed to fast! We haven't met with her yet so we will see what happens this Wednesday!

I'd like to share my spiritual thought for the week now because I'm running out of time. In Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5, It reads: "Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—;Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life." If we exercise our faith in Jesus Christ, then he will bless us with His everlasting grace. His grace is a gift that he truly desires to bless us with. All we have to do to receive it is to have faith in Him. He will support you in all that you do in His name. I know that this church is true and I love sharing this message of happiness. Thank you all for your support, I love you, and may the Lord bless you all!!!

Love,
Elder Mower

Elder Mower Letter #6

Hello everybody!!!

Sorry about another P Day on Tuesday. We had specialized training yesterday and we met our new mission president, President Clements. He is way cool! he is from Utah, loves golf, and his ancestor is Wilford Woodruff, 4th president of the Church!!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!! I think its pretty neat, but the most important part is that he is a man of God, called to lead this mission and I'm grateful to serve with him as my leader.

It is sooo nice to talk to all of you again!!! So unfortunately, this week has been a pretty difficult week. First off, I'd like to talk about all the fun that Elder Baker and I have had, fixing our bikes! haha I discovered that my chain has not been lubricated or cleaned in a long time. The elder that had this bike before me took POOR care of it. So i cleaned it and my gears the best i could and with about 20 dirty rags, it is still not even close to being clean. Also when I came back from companion exchanges this week, I was told that my back tire was flat. Not a big deal, so I buy a new tube and I put it in. The next day, my front tire goes flat, so I buy ANOTHER tube. But this time as I was filling it with air, I didn't quite put it in the tire tread all the way so then it POPS! so then the next day I buy another tube and right as we were about to go out, my brakes start giving me trouble, so then I stop and fix that. Then right as we went down the hill from our apartment, Elder Baker crashed pretty bad on his bike in the middle of the T intersection. I couldn't help but laugh my head off. He got a new tread for his tire and there were no studs on the side of the tread so his back tire slipped out from under him and he fell. So then we spend about an hour just fixing him up from a pretty bad road rash. You could see his vein popping out from the road rash. It was pretty gnarly. But all is well now. With the trial comes the blessing afterwards!!!

So I got to go on companion exchanges last Tuesday with my district leader, Elder Berns. I went to his area, Redwing. It is pretty much on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin but I didn't get to go into Wisconsin unfortunately. :[ oh well. So he was a pretty good contacter on the streets. We had a lot of quality gospel discussions. We gave out a Book of Mormon. But unfortunately no one was willing to let us come back. We also visited a less active member. I don't remember his name but he was a upper aged man who has kids but was divorced. He lives alone and he said he would come to church if he had better shoes. His church shoes do not fit him anymore. Elder Berns and I tried to show him that all you need at church is your BEST attire. If the best you have is street clothes then thats absolutely fine! But he didn't want to come. Kind of makes me sad but i pray that he'll come around soon. I get to go on another exchange with our zone leaders, Elder Bowen and Browning, tomorrow! I think we will be in Cottage Grove or Hudson but I'm excited!

As far as missionary work in Eagan/Rosemount goes, the last few days were very disappointing for us. 3 investigators dropped us, Hannah, Kelly, and Timothy. Timothy was a referral and he still dropped us. We have had lots of potentials but they never follow up. :[ Elder Baker and I are planning on fasting this week for a new investigator. I'm not supposed to ask family and friends back home to fast so please don't do it by the way please! Thanks! So we will see what happens this week. We got in contact yesterday with a less active family, the Kirks. We actually found out that Brother Kirk was once excommunicated, then came back and was sealed in the temple with his wife, but now he found out that one of his sons might have an alternative lifestyle and he doesn't want the church to judge anybody so he refuses to come back. Because he won't come back, we have to drop him. It's really sad but we are allowed to visit every now and then. We will keep them in our prayers. But later today we are inviting Dylan to be baptized on July 30th, depending if his probation ends by then. He's still a little bit sketchy about Joseph Smith but we are teaching him about the restoration today! We know that he has received a testimony of the gospel so we know that he will for Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He reads and prays everyday so he's looking good! We are also teaching the Nelson family. Ray Nelson, the father, lives with his fiancee but they are postponing their marriage till who knows when. This is because they don't want to pay for more taxes. How silly is that??? So if his wife wants to be baptized, then they need to get married. There was a story that i once heard where some missionaries were teaching a couple who wasn't married and they accepted the invitation to be baptized. So one of the elders makes a wrong turn as they are headed home. The other asks where he was going. He responds: "To pick up their marriage papers. We need to get them married right???" So then the couple was married 10 days later and was baptized. hahaha Its funny but it also shows that we should be bold in preaching the gospel. Maybe not to this degree but definitely BOLD. We got sister Briggs to come to church again. We meet with her tomorrow and we are hoping that she receives that personal witness from the Holy Ghost that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true and that it contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel. That is her status so i will announce what happens next week. We are still trying to meet with Jennifer. Like I said before, her husband committed suicide last February. She is going through a lot of pain. We know how much the gospel will bless her life. We aren't giving up on her at all. She almost came to church. She committed but overslept. We meet with her this Thursday at 1 so we hope that the message of this amazing gospel will bring her happiness and peace in her time of need. That is the missionary work of Eagan and Rosemount in a nutshell.

Well I have to go so here is my spiritual thought of the week. In Mosiah 2:41, it reads: "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and ahappy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are bblessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out cfaithful to the end they are received into dheaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

Many people wonder why Latter day saints are so happy. This scripture tells us why. its because we do the things the Lord asks. Many people think that freedom will bring them happiness. It may temporarily but not eternally. It is through following the Saviors teachings that we may be happy both temporally and eternally. I know that this church is true and i wouldn't rather be anywhere else than out in Minnesota serving the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. Thank you all for your encouragement and love for me. Keep up the missionary work wherever you are!!!

Love,
Elder Mower

Dear family:

Thank you for all of your love and support. Keep it up because I'll need every last bit of it.

So to answer your questions mom: The food is surprisingly VERY GOOD! No meat loaf w/ ketchup yet. haha We had quite average food! A lot like your food! Lots of chicken casseroles. A few times we got to eat RIBS! :D There are lots of members that take care of me! One has a son that is a rapper that is going to BYUI and serving a mission soon!!! I did get my pants today and they fit perfectly. surprisingly I do not need to get them hemmed! I didn't get the pull up bar yet but I'll get back to you on that one next week. Can't wait to see what you sent me because you ALWAYS send me some pretty awesome stuff! Thanks mom! :] Tell Brother Noble that he's gonna have to show me his 360 magic on the wake board when i come home! :b Tell Jay to keep trying because he has a 2 year head start and after that, ITS ON! hahaha Many times with members I mentioned how much we love Lake Mead. Can't wait to go back but the humidity makes me feel like I'm there even if its only 90 degrees out! lol We have a car but we also bike. We can only use 1100 miles in a month. The elder before me that had the bike took POOR care of it so now i am afraid that i will learn everything about a bike. hahaha but its alright!!! its good for me! The new mission president is sooooo cool!!! He is from Utah, loves to play golf and interesting fact about him: his great great great...(idk how many greats) grandfather is Wilford Woodruff!!! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?! I think its pretty awesome. But more importantly, he is a great man and i cant wait to serve with him.

All is well and its about my time to get off the computer so I'll talk to you later. Each of you will get a personal letter soon! love you all SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! :]

Love your son, brother, and missionary,

First Pictures from Eagan, MN!

Pictures from the MTC!

Elder Mower sent home his memory card today! We finally have some pictures!!! I don't know who or what they are, but we have some! Looks like he is happy and doing well!

Elder Mower Letter #5

hello from a beautiful day in Eagan Minnesota!!!

Sorry i couldn't email yesterday...the library was closed for the 4th of July so that means no computer. ha ha. Everything has been going pretty awesome here!!! I absolutely loved to celebrate the 4th of July!!! Me and Elder Baker were able to go to the parade in Eagan with 2 other Elders who are serving in Farmington. I am so grateful for our Heavenly Fathers love and support for the Founding Fathers, who were truly God-inspired men determined to find this choice land prepared by our Father in Heaven. I'm so thankful that we have the freedom of religion in this country because it allowed for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to come to pass. It allowed Joseph Smith to bring forth our Heavenly Fathers work and glory upon the face of the earth before the Saviors Second Coming. Such a blessing that we all have in our lives, to live in this wonderful nation given to us by our Father in Heaven.

Anyways, I'm starting to be able to approach people a little bit better. I'm not perfect by ANY means though. ha ha. In fact just yesterday, there was a lady about 20 years old. we knocked on her door and she opened...lets just say her outfit wasn't the most modest of all clothes. lol so i was so embarrassed because i wouldn't look at her because of her outfit. I was sweating up a storm (the humidity didn't help of course). I kind of had no idea what to do so Elder Baker took over and thankfully, she is now a potential investigator. So I'm glad the Lord blessed me with a companion to bail me out whenever i mess up due to inexperience. ha ha I'll get used to it and I'll get better at it, but talking to people is so much harder than i thought because when people reject the gospel in a rude manner, it's sad. These people are saying no to something that I KNOW will bless their lives. but I'm praying for them. I'm also praying for myself that i will know what to say to people when i am finding them.

Unfortunately, the work is still moving pretty slow and I found out that it is because the last elders somehow abused the trust of the members and now its my responsibility, as well as Elder Baker, to get that trust from the members back. It is so key to have the trust of members because a good chunk of the people baptized are from referrals from members. So we are struggling with that. But the Lord has blessed us with at least one potential investigator everyday since last Thursday. But there are ALLLOOOTTTTTTT of Lutheran and Roman Catholic people up here. I think I officially despise the statement: "Sorry. I'm Catholic/Lutheran. I'm happy with that faith." Its soooo frustrating because we're not trying to take away that faith that they already have in Jesus Christ, we just want to strengthen it and add some more truths to the ones that they already have!!! but it's their agency and we are always here to help them if they ever need any help. We met some Jehovah's Witnesses and surprisingly, they were VERY nice to us. Elder Baker said that they usually get pretty nasty with missionaries. So we haven't met with Dylan yet because he is still with his dad. I believe we are meeting with him on Thursday so ill let you all know what happens. We haven't met with the Nelson family, Timothy, or Jennifer yet either. Not a lot of people actually follow up with us unless they are actually trying to come closer to Jesus Christ. However, we did have a few lessons! First was for Sister Orvela Hampton. She is an upper aged African women who is a less-active member in the Church. She lives in a nursing home due to Crones disease. She had just a couple of problems. First off, her granddaughter is sadly starting become a lesbian. :[ We taught her about the Atonement and about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End). Just as I was bearing my testimony of repentance, she also mentioned that she had some Word of Wisdom issues. We are working with her to come to Church again, to read the Book of Mormon, and to apply the Gospel of Jesus Christ in her life. She said she appreciated my testimony and it brings me SOOOOOOOOOOOO much joy that i am now touching people's lives in behalf of the Lord. I can't even begin to explain the pure happiness that it gives me. Next, we taught a less-active family, the Schweigert family. They have 2 little kids and a dog. I don't know their names yet (there are soooooo many names to remember in the mission!) so bear with me. The father REALLY wants to receive the priesthood to bless his family. So we are working with him to reactivate them to full activity in the church so that they can enjoy these blessings as well as their desire to go to the temple to be sealed for all time and eternity. Finally, we are teaching a less active member named Kathy. She is a unique less active member. She doesn't believe in Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon but she believes in the Doctrine and Covenants. We committed her to pray about these things last time and she said that she'd do it. So we will see what happens when we meet with her tomorrow and help her receive that personal witness from the Spirit that these things are true. So that's all that has been happening in the area of Eagan other than LOTS of tracting! haha

So last Friday, there was ALMOST A TORNADO!!! IT was a HOT HUMID DAY (about 105 degrees with 90% humidity) but then it got cloudy around 7 and then the skies turned green!!! It was sooooo crazy!!! we were pretty excited. lol. It turned out to be a VERY severe thunderstorm. Lightning was constantly lighting the sky. haha unfortunately there happened to be a tornado in a different area. it did some damage but nothing too major. There was a part-member family whose driveway was covered with trees. The very next day, their branch came to help them clear the trees and after that, the father of the family was so impressed with their self-less service that he said that he wanted to be baptized after 10 years of investigating the Church. That is an amazing miracle. There are miracles in this mission everyday and they are all amazing!

So I'm sorry that i forgot to provide a spiritual thought last week so to make up for that, i found a very touching quote from President Boyd K. Packer for those who feel that all is lost in their life or that there is no hope: "Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and you cannot fix is the very purpose of the Atonement of Christ...there is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness. That is the promise of the Atonement of Christ." Brothers and Sisters I know that this is truly the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ not only because i see it working in my life but also in the lives of those that i come in contact with. I know that it has the ultimate enabling power to heal us of any inner wound or struggle that we have in our lives. That is why we should never give up, no matter what! there is always hope in ALL of the lives of God's children. Find someone who is struggling and share this good news of hope with them. I love you all and ill talk to you in another week! YOUUUUUU BETCHYAAA! ;]

Love,

Elder Mower



Dear Family:

Thank you soooooo much for the sweet letters and notes that you wrote to me. I want each of you to know individually how much i love you! You are the ones that matter most to me. As i take on the most challenging, yet best, 2 years of serving the Lord in my life, you are my biggest fans and encouragers. It is through your love that helps me press on in the hard times. Every time the adversary attacks with anything, I hear your sweet voices shout for joy exhorting me to carry on! and I find that the hard times are not defining my mission, they are refining it. They are making me stronger. I know that its not easy but I do know that it will be absolutely worth everything. Next P-Day I WILL set some time aside to write each of you a personal letter to each of you. Mom, thank you soooooo much for sending me all of that stuff. I know I ask for a lot sometimes but you so willingfully do it for me. I'm so grateful for that. Dad, Thank you for sharing your mission experiences! They helped remind me that the hard times are only for a short time. I love you all MORE THAN ANYTHING! <3333333333333 Ill talk to you soon! :]]]

Love Your son, brother, and missionary

Elder Mower